A Doomed Race
by Daughter Of The Revolution
Summary: Bertholt and Reiner just wanted to live in peace with their children, little Annie and young Eren. But being a rare advanced race of Titan-shifters doesn't come with the quality of luxury, especially when Eren's been dubbed as the Destroyer of their Kind. His parents are determined to rewrite that future . . . if they can.Onesided AnRen,and RiRen. Unofficial Prequal to What's Left
1. The Destroyer

**Daughter Of The Revolution****: That's right, I'm writing two stories at once, whataya gonna do 'bout it? Anyways, this is my "unofficial prequel" to my Oneshot/Longshot "What's Left." Unofficial means you can take this story as same universe or not. Up to you if you like it. My minds' always a-tickin' and this happened to fall on my lap, so I decided to write it. Will probably be in 2 parts. So, enjoy :D**

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"It's going to be a girl," Bertl said with a soft smile as he rubbed his rounded belly that was currently occupied with a soon-to-be family member.

Reiner looked at him quizzically, his sharp brow arched. "How do you know?"

Bertl simply rolled his shoulders and shook his head. "Perhaps it's a mother's intuition." That statement earned a chuckle from his mate.

"Yeah, right, sure it is," Reiner said with a chuckle as he continued his chores with replenishing their firewood.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Bertl asked, narrowing his eyes at his mate.

"Well, for starters, your mother said you were going to be a girl, but she was wrong," Reiner said while playfully sticking his tongue out in jest.

"Dammit, Reiner!" Bertl erupted and made sure that his mate got that dingy set of sheets and slept on the floor, He would feel the wrath of an expecting Titan-shifter.

Petty arguments, that's all they were. The two had known each other for too long to let those simple troubles separate them. Their status as mates should downplay any doubts, even against the equation of love it was logical for the two to be together.

Titan-shifters were one in ten million, too rare to take for granted. Bertl had never known his father but for his mother, he could not tell if she had any relatives. Reiner, however, knew both his father and mother but the parents vanished after Reiner hit his teens and so it was common sense to make a stay with Bertl whose mother had vanished as well.

It was a small cottage the two lived in, long since abandoned by the coming of Titans. The two had a lot to keep up but through flawless teamwork they finished the repairs in no time, just in time for their expected little one.

The days waiting for him, or her as Bertl began to say, was spent in easy peace. Titan-shifters lived outside the walls, away from humans but around the Titans, though those creatures paid no mind to them and thusly ensured an easy life for the small new race. Titan-shifters were no more human than they were Titan. It is true no Titan-shifter really knew the origin of their race but they considered themselves superior to both races; that of the Titans and humans. They were the ultimate predators set to dominate the world . . . in a given time of course. There were so few they were almost nonexistent to their own kind and on more than one occasion the two mates believed they to be the sole survivors of their kind. So, the idea of reproduction wasn't far from their minds in this understanding.

Not only had Titan-shifters evolved to become the dominating race through power and ability, but their creator, whether he be in the clouds or rotting somewhere in the rich soil, had assured their race would thrive, even if only one Titan-shifter remained on the whole earth.

If need be, a Titan-shifter can reproduce asexually. It would be a clone of some sort, but the gender would always be opposite for the need for breeding.

If a female solely remain then in time she could produce a male from her body and, when grown, mate with him to provide more Titan-shifters. If a male solely remain then even he could reproduce. Producing a female Titan-shifter to copulate with and replenish their race.

Since Bertl's father had never been around, he had a feeling his mother might have forced her body to create him, but as a mate? Bertl had his doubts, seeing how she had not so much as showed any kind of affection in that way toward him. No, after Reiner and he had become close, she vanished leaving Bertl to mate to Reiner.

Reiner's father, on the other hand, had been produced through two male shifters, as had an old acquaintance of Bertl's mother. Both men knew the necessities to produce a child out of their union and though they had the ability to do so, it was somewhat tricky.

Like a male and female, the qualities to make a child are common and sometimes the child is forced upon its mother by an impatient father, but that cannot be the case with male mates. In fact, some had mated just to combine DNA to create stronger shifters, but no child had ever been produced no matter how hard and long the Titan-shifters tried. Indeed it was in the unbeknownst mates like Reiner's grandfathers who had simply adored and loved and longed to be beside their other that a child was produced. A girl first, Reiner's favorite relative as Bertl recalled being told, and then a boy, Reiner's father, and then another boy who Reiner said vanished long before his own parents and aunt.

Bertl really had no intention of abandoning this child though it seemed quite common among their race. Time would tell, he supposed.

So, Titans themselves are a set number and therefore have no means of reproducing their kind; humans are a lower race and so still birth their young through only the women. It has even been heard that human mothers can be killed upon birth, but Titan-shifters have superior regenerative abilities, so as the child rips out of them they heal the damage as soon as it's done.

Bertl had no fear for his health as his firstborn tore itself out of him.

"You were right, Bertie, it's a girl," Reiner declared with a smile as he watched the female Titan-shifter, in form of a Titan—as their kind are all born like—climb out of her "mother's" belly before promptly falling down, her form melting away to reveal ivory soft skin, golden hair, and the bluest eyes her parents had ever seen.

"She's beautiful," Bertl said as he was given the girl to hold. "Even her Titan form is a thing of beauty."

"I have to agree," Reiner said as he pet her head softly. "My Aunt can't even compare."

"Oh, look, she has my nose," Bertl said with a smile as he gently poked the girl's nose, noticing the familiarity of the shape compared to his own. "Oh, and your sharp brow. She's a good mix between the both of us."

"She's among the better bred. I know she's one of the best," Reiner said, touching her fingers and feeling her grasp his own finger tightly.

"She just proves we make good mates," Bertl said with a sigh as he leaned his head against his mate.

"Her existence proves how much I love you," Reiner whispered as he leaned down to kiss the mother and child.

Bertl smiled and closed his eyes to rest and let his healing finish its task at hand.

Their daughter really was a special breed. Within nine months she learned to walk on her own. At ten months she had mastered her transformation. Now she was able to shift into a Titan at will.

"Good job, Annabelle," Bertl praised as he watched his daughter pull out of her form alongside her father. As their forms vaporized away, Reiner took the girl up and set her on his shoulders.

"Now she needs to say her first words," Reiner said as he came to stand next to his mate who reached up and pinched their daughter's thigh. That made her squirm.

"Whenever she's ready," Bertl said with a gentle smile. "She doesn't have to prove herself anymore."

"Still, she should be speaking now," Reiner said with a sigh. "Is it too much to ask just to hear her say, 'papa'?"

"Maybe she'll start speaking when she's a big sister," Bertl suggested.

Reiner froze and looked at his mate with wide eyes. The recognition of what the taller male had said suddenly began to turn the gears within his mind.

"You're . . .?"

Bertl smiled and nodded.

"For how long?" Reiner asked as he dropped his daughter into his arms.

"A while," Bertl confessed as he rubbed his interestingly hidden swell. "Sorry I didn't tell you sooner. I wasn't sure at first, but just today I felt a kick."

Reiner grinned so big and pulled his mate close. "Did you hear that, Annie? You're going to be a big sister. What do you say to that?"

The two shifters looked at their daughter but she remained quiet and unsmiling. Simultaneously the males let out a sigh. They hoped that the news would coerce her into speaking her mind, but no such luck. Instead, she expressed herself in other ways.

Lately little Annie would cuddle closer to her mother and when the baby was active, she would always be there to feel the movement, never keeping her eyes away from the round. She seemed fascinated and quite anxious for the little one to show itself. Even on her first birthday she spent her time cuddling her mother and pressing herself against the round belly of Bertl.

"Annie, this is your day," Bertl said as he stroked his little girl's locks affectionately when she continued to press close against his belly. "Why don't you go open the presents your father and I made for you?"

But she did not respond to him. Instead she clung closer and would not move.

"It's because of this that I hardly get a chance to feel them." Bertl smiled as he felt his mate snake his arm around him from behind and gently press against the top of his swell. "They're quite active today," Reiner noted.

"Yes, they are. Now, if you would take Annie out with you today, I could use some rest. I don't know why, but this child takes my energy," Bertl said with a weary shrug.

"You should be healing from that," Reiner mentioned, looking concerned as his mate wavered on his feet.

Bertl rolled his shoulders again. "Like I said, I don't know why."

"You take it easy, you hear? If there's anything you want, let me know," Reiner said after he detached Annie from her mother's side and left the cottage to let his mate catch up on much needed rest.

As the days progressed Bertl grew more tired. His daughter though was not helping as she'd crawl into bed with her parents and press herself close to Bertl's already sensitive swell. He became so tired to the point his abilities weren't working. So, Reiner had him do a few exercises to see the extent of the problem.

A week after Annie's birthday Bertl seemed at his worst. Dark circles layered under his once vibrant green eyes. He couldn't stand up straight, he couldn't even stand for long at that, and small cuts he had received while making dinner still shown on his skin. So, Reiner had him shift, but as Bertl tried he found he couldn't. No matter how many times he'd cut himself, nothing happened. So, Bertl and Reiner went to bed that night equally concerned and equally frustrated.

In the middle of the night, Bertl was woken up by Annie climbing into bed and settling herself against his belly. He wasn't one to lash out at a little child, but he was coming close if she didn't stop interrupting his much longed for rest.

When he settled his head into his pillow he closed his eyes and made to get some sleep, but a sudden pain broke his attempt to sleep.

He hurt. He had never been in so much pain in his life. When Annie was born, even as she ripped out of him with her hands, he didn't hurt. Because he healed rapidly.

His cries woke Reiner. His mate jumped up and quickly threw the covers off to examine the shifter. He was going to pull Annie away as well, but Bertl's condition worsened and all thoughts to keep her away was lost in his fright.

"Bertl! Bertl, what's wrong? !" Reiner asked as he placed his hands on his mate.

"It hurts, it hurts so bad!" Bertl cried out, tears falling down his face from the immense pain he's never felt before.

Reiner had never felt so helpless as he did now. He was afraid because he had never seen Bertl like this. He was afraid because Bertl was afraid.

Just as Bertl's hand flew to Reiner's arm, blood shot past his lips and sprayed Reiner's neck and torso. Reiner had seen Bertl bleed before but not like this. There was too much blood coming from his mouth and nose.

"The strain from the pregnancy's affecting his healing ability," Reiner muttered to himself at the realization and shock. But what could he do?

Annie, even after seeing her mother parent cry out in so much pain, showed no signs of worry. Instead she laid her head upon her mother's enlarged swell and remained still. The pain might have taken Bertl's attention away from his daughter, but not Reiner.

"Annie, get away, right now!" Reiner nor Bertl had ever raised their voice in front of their daughter but the situation was demanding and Reiner needed to tend to his mate. His daughter could not continue to stay near him in a time like this, but still the little girl would not move and so Reiner took a hold of her arm and pulled her away. "What did I just say?" Reiner growled but he was taken aback as the little blonde pulled her arm away and growled back at him.

Before Reiner could even reprimand his disobedient child, Bertl spat out more blood and threw his head back. Reiner froze in the fear of the unknown, but Annie once again threw herself against her mother's belly and this time she did something both parents never thought they'd see her do.

Both males watched with wide eyes as their one-year-old daughter took her fingers, hardened them into a crystal-like substance and ripped open Bertl's abdomen. When she pulled the skin apart she reached down and there something took hold of her wrist and bit deeply. Reiner had thought her whole wrist would come off but that little protégé of his had hardened her entire forearm. Then, out she pulled a Titan youngling that had attached itself to her wrist, not letting go.

Bertl had cried out at the sight of it. Reiner could feel the man trembling. Even worse, as Reiner examined Bertl's opened belly he gasped at what he saw inside. Their youngest child, the monster Titan, had eaten most of the tissue encasing it in its makeshift womb. Then it moved onto Bertl's organs and then to his bones. Reiner could see Bertl was missing a few ribs, the edges shown bite marks that no doubt matched their youngest's teeth.

"Hang in there, Bertl. I'll get you fixed up," Reiner said, ignoring their newborn child who was still trying to bite off his big sister's arm with no success, and rushing to get wrap and ointment for his mate.

As he began wrapping Bertl up, the brunette began to cry. His throat was so dry and so his voice ragged. "I-It was eating me, Reiner. Eating me; its own mother," Bertl cried out, closing his eyes and crying from the pain and horror.

Reiner didn't know what to think of it. Titan-shifting children tear their way out of their mothers, not eat their way out. It was no wonder Bertl wasn't healing like he was supposed to. Reiner hoped his abilities would start up soon. God knows he needed it right now.

Turning around, Reiner came up to the Titan child. It greatly differed from the form of Annabelle and even he and Bertl. This one had skin, steam coming off of it everywhere. There were dark tufts of hair upon its scalp, suggesting the color was taken from Bertl. But the one thing Reiner noticed the most was its glowing green eyes. They were so beastly that Reiner wondered if this was just a regular Titan instead of a Titan-shifter. Still, Titans do not eat shifters, so this child was nothing but a mystery full of unending questions.

"Annabelle, back away," Reiner commanded and this time she listened. As she wiggled her crystalized wrist out of its jaws and moved away, Reiner came up to it and pressed it down against the floor. From the moment he touched it, the child emitted off large quantities of steam, concealing the whole room in it.

When it faded, Reiner felt the touch of soft baby skin underneath the palm of his hand. Lifting his hand he looked down and beheld the being of his son.

"Bertl, look, it's a boy," Reiner said as a soft smile crept upon his lips. Suddenly a father's love washed over him and over the anger of what the child had done to their mother.

When Reiner presented the child to Bertl, the taller male had flinched away from him, but slowly, as Bertl beheld the child's human form he gently reached out to take him into his arms and once he had, all the offenses the child had done against Bertl were forgotten.

"You scared me so much, little one," Bertl said as he examined the boy. Reaching up the child took ahold of his fingers and so Bertl fell in love with him more.

"This one takes after you more. His eyes, the color of his hair, his tanned skin, even his brow; so much like you, Bertl," Reiner said with a smile as he examined the little boy.

"Not quite," Bertl said with a smile. Although Reiner was right; their son looked a lot like his mother. There was still some traits that were all his father. "Right there," Bertl said as he poked the newborn's nose. "That's yours," he said to his mate who smiled lovingly.

"Well, since it's a boy, Eren it is," Reiner said with a nod. Bertl nodded in agreement before staring back at his newborn.

While the parents were busy cooing at their newborn son, they had not noticed how their daughter struggled to see her new sibling and so the only way she could hope to gain attention was . . .

"Eren."

Both shifters froze. They turned toward their daughter who was standing at the foot of the bed. Bertl reached out for her with his free arm, signaling Reiner to take her to him. Reiner did and as the little blonde settled next to her mother, her eyes were continuously on the child. Then, both shifters watched as she said once again, "Eren," and then leaned down and kissed the child upon his small lips.

Bertl gasped. When he looked at his mate he noticed Reiner thinking the same thoughts as him.

"Did Annie . . .?" Bertl questioned even though he already knew the answer.

Reiner nodded, both parents looking at their daughter. "She bonded with her brother."

To bond to someone was something special. Titan-shifters usually don't become mates unless a bond is felt and when it is, there can be no undoing it. It wasn't uncommon for siblings to become mates since there are so few shifters, but Bertl and Reiner had never known any mated siblings. But the thought that their son and daughter would become mates made them happy. Both were healthy and very strong. They would produce very strong shifters and further evolve their race, of that Reiner and Bertl were sure.

And so, after the ordeal of Eren's birth, all was preaceful. Reiner and Bertl were living in peace and their children ever-growing. Annie began talking more, though it was more to her brother than her parents, but as long as she was speaking, neither mate minded.

It was a nice life as Reiner worked on their firewood and Bertl tended the garden with Annie and Eren playing in the soil.

It was a pleasant summer that year and Annie had already turned 4 while Eren was the tender age of 3. More children had been thought of for the future, but right now, with Eren being the handful he was, Reiner and Bertl decided to wait until he was more mature for the sake of him being called a big brother.

Annie was the ideal child and big sister. She watched over Eren day and night, where he went she followed and made sure he stayed out of trouble. Bertl didn't know what he'd do if Annie hadn't been in his life and so many times he thanked her existence.

Eren was wild. He hadn't shifted back yet, but he was energetic. Reiner nor Bertl minded about his lack of transformation. They would handle that another day.

"Annie, no more kisses. Eren doesn't like it, remember?" Bertl reminded as he sat on the cottage porch overlooking his two children play when Annie decided to give Eren his 14th kiss of the day. The boy would whine and shake his head when his sister kissed him. It was cute to the extent that Annie wasn't crying over the rejection from her younger sibling. They were still both young; no doubt Eren would bond to his sister in time, seeing how they were the only two shifters in the known area.

After his daughter had settled herself and simply sat next to her brother, Bertl had seen something from afar. Standing up he narrowed his eyes for better vision. In the distance he saw a group of people coming toward them.

"Reiner," Bertl called out, catching his mate's attention and pointing toward the oncoming party. Reiner nodded and laid his axe down as Bertl ran up to the children and placed a hand on each to stay them. Reiner made his way to his family's side just as the group stopped before them.

They were the past seers and the future tellers. Elders of their kind. The only ones who knew where their race came from, they being the ones who guided their kind to these lands across the sea.

"It's an honor to be present at your visit," Reiner said with a welcoming smile. "But I must ask the reason for such a journey to my humble home."

"All is not well for the future of our race," an elderly male shifter said, his eyes, skin, and hair were pure white, his vision only seeing that of the future no doubt.

"What do you mean, great seer?" Bertl asked, looking concerned. "Are we not thriving?"

"We are," a woman then said, her vision still beheld the images of this world and so she was able to look Bertl and Reiner in the eyes. "But a destroyer has been seen in vision and future."

"Is it a human?" Reiner asked with a snarl. "Tell me who it is and I shall devour them whole so they never get a chance to become a threat to us."

In the past, visions of strong men who had the possibility to ruin the race of Titan-shifters were seen and so shifters were sent to avoid extinction by execution. This has become a necessity to survive in time of vision.

"There is a human we spied in our vision, but he can be made a threat no longer if the main destroyer is not eradicated," the old man continued.

"Then who is it? Tell us," Bertl persisted they inform them.

"One of your children," Another elder informed.

A cold sweat swept past both shifters. They looked down at their little ones who looked up at them with such an innocence that Reiner and Bertl knew the elders had been mistaken.

"It can't be," Bertl assured, shaking his head as he gripped his children tighter. "How can a shifter betray their own race? !"

"Bertl, calm down. Let them see the children," Reiner said, obviously the more composed of the two.

Bertl gapped at him. His eyes wide and lips quivering. "How could you say that, Reiner? Do you believe one of our children will destroy us?"

"I don't know. Only the seers do," Reiner reasoned. "This is likely all a misunderstanding. Just do what they want."

Bertl slumped his shoulders and bowed his head. "Alright, please, come inside," He said to the elders as he took his children's hands and led them back toward the cottage.

Inside, Annie and Eren were sat down in the center of the living quarters. Bertl was kneeling next to them. He pulled both into his embrace and held them close. He was afraid because he knew that if one was indeed this destroyer the elders envisioned then he and Reiner would have to watch their own baby get killed for the future of their race. Reiner had to place his hand upon his mate's shoulder to coax Bertl into letting go of the children. By the feel of the tight grip, Bertl knew even Reiner was struggling to allow this to happen just as much as he.

When Bertl stood and backed away from the children, an elder stepped forward. He placed his hands upon Annie and Eren's heads and stared into the distance. Slowly, his hands traveled down toward the back of the children's heads and then his fingers touched their necks.

Bertl started, he thought the shifter meant to strangle his children, but he steadied himself after realizing the elder wasn't gripping too tightly.

"The one who bites the hand of their own race is the destroyer. For it shall be they who will crave for the flesh of their mother and the bones of their father and the eyes of their sister," the elder placed his hands over the children's eyes. Both still. "And the heart of their brother," the elder finished thus pressing the palms of his hands against Annie and Eren's tiny chests to feel the beating of their growing hearts.

Bertl and Reiner's eyes widened simultaneously in horror as they watched their young son suddenly change persona. His eyes glew a bright green and his teeth were bared as he turned and bit the elder on his forearm.

"Eren!" Bertl cried out in horror as he watched his quiet child turn and attack the elder, thus signaling his role in the future, but his fate as of the present.

The elder smiled and pulled Eren close who was still ripping out the tendons in his arm. "My vision was right. This male-child is our race's doom," he declared and then grabbed a hold of Eren's unruly hair and shoved him against the floor.

"NO!" Bertl cried and tossed himself over his child before the rest of the elders could come and rip his son apart, limb by limb.

The elders looked at Bertl and scoffed. "You would really defend that monster at the cost of our entire race? !"

"There has to be a mistake. Eren would never . . ." In Bertl's attempt to defend his son, the colossal Titan growled and an anger like nothing he's felt before enveloped him. "You! You must have done something!"

"We have done nothing, but if you do not let us do away with that child then our race, being in its newest form but highest evolutionary stage, will be doomed and it shall be you who hindered its salvation!"

It couldn't be, it just couldn't. Not the child that Bertl bore himself. No, not Eren. But, in reality the elders were never wrong. Bertl should have known Eren was different from the way he entered this world to the way he never shifted again. Perhaps when he did come to shift into his Titan form, he would attack their kind.

No, it was wrong. The elders were looking for another shifter child.

"He's not the right one," Bertl once again defended. "You've got the wrong child because my daughter has formed a bond with him. They are destined to become mates and procreate, not destroy." Bertl had never sounded so desperate in his life, but he didn't care. As his hold tightened around his son he found himself denying the elder's accuracy in the reading of the future.

The elder, who had been bitten by Eren, looked down at the little girl who remained seated. He let out a sigh and said, "Then I pity your family." Reiner stiffened and his fists clenched at everything that was said against them. "The both of you, for bearing that ruination of our kind and that of your daughter who has created a bond to a being who will never bond in return."

"What do you know, old man? !" Bertl bit out, his eyes full of the fires of anger. "Your visions have never been proven! You come and tell us that this will be our downfall or this land is not good to settle and so we listen and prevent any disaster to prolong our kind but how do we even know if it would come to pass? The future is ever-changing!"

"A lie to comfort the doomed," the elder said. "It will not come to pass? The monster which you begat will not journey to the humans and make his alligience with them? Your monster will not forget the people who have borne him into this world?"

With every condemning question of the unraveling future Bertl closed his eyes, trying not to listen. "No . . . no!" he said, shaking his head in unacceptance.

"Your monster will not call a human mother and father?"

"No!"

"Your monster will not hate the Titans of his own blood?"

"No!"

"Your monster will not devote himself to the destruction of our kind from the hate the humans have taught to him?

"No!"

"Your monster will not learn the humans' way of killing our kind and fight as if he were human?"

"No!"

"Your monster will not bond himself to a wretched human and share his blood and all its secrets in their joining?"

"NO! ! !"

Not that, never that. Humans were disgusting pitiful worms. They didn't deserve any secret of their genetic make-up and Eren would bond only to Annie.

Bertl had decided that and no brainwashed elder was going to tell him otherwise. So, to staunch out these rambling lies, Bertl simply lunged at the elder and pressed the tips of his thumbs into those unseeing eyes of his that they popped. They were useless anyways.

"AHHHH! ! !"

As Bertl pressed in deeper he could see it. Everything the elders had said to him.

He saw Eren with a human mother and human father. He saw Eren crying out in rage over the Titans. He saw Eren training as humans do to kill their kind. He saw Eren with that fucking human, next to him, under him, giving his loyalty, his attention, his soul to him.

No, no and no! That future was fake and Bertl would make sure to never let it happen. But first, the elder was too loud.

Not only was the damn elder too blind but too noisy as well. With that kind of shriek he was sure to upset the little ones and Bertl hated when his children were upset. So, just as the elder went to transform, Bertl leaned down and ripped his throat out with his teeth. The liar's blood sprayed hot in his face but Bertl didn't care. The man could heal from that and so Bertl took his visible spine and pulled it with his own hands. Now he wouldn't shout anymore.

"What have you done? !" the rest of the elders cried out in outrage as they watched Bertl decapitate the elder and hold his head by the vertebrae of his neck. "Are you mad? You would have our race ruined by a monster? !"

"You are mistaken. There is no monster in this household. My child's name is Eren and he is my son," Bertl said as he gazed at the elders.

"You are a fool!" the female elder shouted. "Our visions are never wrong. If you will not allow us to terminate the threat then there are others willing to take up the responsibility."

When they turned to leave they stopped. Reiner stood before the doorway, blocking them. His fists were clenched against his sides, shaking.

"You would stop us too?" another elder asked. "You have not yet lost your mind like your mate so reason with us."

"Bertl is right; Eren is our son. He would never do what you said he will," Reiner swore, slowly sinking into the same mental state as his mate in hopes of preserving his precious family.

"We can see that you knew he was different from us." They took notice of Reiner's hesitation and read it. "Perhaps since his birth?" When Reiner looked at the elders slightly agape they continued, "What, did he eat his way out of his mother? That's it, isn't it? You knew and yet you did nothing! Now's your chance to right your wrong. You don't have to be the one to end it, just step aside and we will inform the others. Don't worry, it won't take long for them to come and take him off your hands."

Reiner remained silent though and so the elders grew tired of waiting. They transformed into Titans, all 5 meter forms.

"Out of our way!" They demanded. But Reiner looked back toward his mate whose blood-soaked frame turned to him. Their eyes met. Something sparkled in Reiner's eyes and just as quickly as the elders, transformed into his Titan form, though his 15 meter form easily dwarfed their 5 meter husks.

"I cannot allow anyone to know and if that means exterminating the elders then so be it," Reiner said, looking down at the helpless elders.

"We are sacred. Without our guidance our race is doomed!" they swore.

Reiner didn't care. He stomped them into the ruin of his cottage. One, missing their abdomen attempted to escape. They crawled under some ruble, hoping to hide and to be miscounted in the slaughter, but when they found themselves in the presence of Annie they cried out as the little 4-year-old transformed and sank her teeth into its skull, breaking the head in half and disconnecting the body inside.

"No," Bertl said, the head in his hand had long since evaporated but the ruin of the cottage remained still around him. "No, no, no." Looking down he realized he had taken Eren's hand in his. See, Eren was behaving as long as his mother was there by his side. Looking up he watched his mate kneel his form down before them, pulling himself free. "Reiner," Bertl said as he reached out with his free hand and touched the dissolving face of the armored Titan. "They are right; Eren marks the end of our race because he will mate with Annie and their offspring will be stronger, faster, live longer. We will pass away but they will remain."

When Bertl touched the face of his mate he noticed how moist it was. "Reiner?" There it was, the tears. His mate was trembling. So Bertl wrapped his arms around him and tried once again to tell him it was alright. "You did nothing wrong, Reiner. You defended your family and I love you for it, as do your children."

Reiner felt Annie touch him and then Eren. He looked down at his children before his gaze lingered on the boy. Kneeling down he examined the boy who looked the ever docile. When Reiner pulled him close his son even hugged him. Eren had always been more emotional than Annie and so it was no surprise that Eren would hug his father close. His actions always spoke louder than words and any gesture was better than a thousand words.

"Did I do the right thing, Eren?" Reiner asked, holding his son close and wetting the boy's shirt with his tears. "Tell me I did."

Eren mumbled out a moan and pressed himself closer to his father. Reiner smiled before picking the boy up. "They were wrong, Eren. I know it." When he turned he looked at the debris of the cottage and said, "I'm not going to bother rebuilding because we're moving."

Bertl took Reiner's hand in one and Annie's hand in the other. With an encouraging smile Bertl leaned close and pressed a kiss to his mate's lips.

"As long as we're together, the future is ours alone," Bertl said.

Reiner nodded. Bertl was right. The future was theirs. They had nothing to fear.

* * *

**Daughter Of The Revolution: Or do they? Mwahaha. That's all in Part 2, kiddies. So, yep, I've got no ideas if there is a Titan-shifter society or whatnot. This is purely Fanfiction for the sake of branching out a "what if" from my Oneshot. So, this could stand on its own or tie in, it's up to you guys. If it does tie in it may answer some questions presented in my Oneshot "What's Left" if you guys think about it. Well, hope you liked, will post Part 2 when I get the chance.**


	2. You Can't Hinder Destiny

**DOTR: Ooookay, so I lied, it's not going to be two parts but three, so sue me! Anywho, hope you guys enjoy my amateur way of tying my silly little fanfic into canon!**

* * *

It had been a year already, the slaughtering of the elders were nothing more than a fading memory. Bertl and Reiner were too busy being parents to worry about any repercussions that might fly their way. They had become stricter on their children, especially Eren. Even though the two mates refused to accept the elders' vision of Eren's future, the fact that the elders had never been wrong still lingered in the back of their minds, and the possibility of Eren changing allegiance still echoed in their wandering thoughts. So, to grow the boy more accustomed to his people, Reiner decided to take him out with him one day, staying gone as long as needed so Reiner could train his son to shift into his Titan form and embrace his heritage.

Annie had not been happy to be separated from her brother and made it quite known to her mother.

"Calm down, Annie. They'll be back before you know it," Bertl said as he sat his little girl on his lap and enjoyed the setting sun from their porch.

Combing his little girl's hair was a pastime for Bertl. Finding a way to keep it out of her face had been a challenge before they found old hairpins in the house they currently occupied. Not only did it make his daughter all the more adorable but now she couldn't hide those beautiful blues from her fathers. Bertl also managed to catch that lovely smile of hers as Reiner and Eren returned, though Reiner had no welcoming smile to give of his own.

"Nothing?" Bertl guessed with a frown of his own.

Reiner let out a sigh and shook his head. He looked down at his son who now found himself in a game of chase with is big sister. "No matter what I tried, he would not shift. I know I told you I'd stay away for as long as it took to get him to transform but everything was useless."

Bertl wrapped his arms around his mate and comforted him. "Don't worry," he said. "Now's just not the time."

"He's almost five, Bertl," Reiner reminded. "He should have transformed by now. Hell, he's even worse than Annie with speaking; the boy still hasn't said his first words. Nothing but mumbles and groans from him."

Bertl just chuckled. "That's our luck."

They definitely had some unique children and Bertl had wanted them to get to know other Titan-shifter children, but Bertl was a little more than paranoid about meeting other families, especially after the destruction of the elders. When they had first moved they had a chance to settle near another Shifter family, the mates even had two little girls the same age as Eren, but they decided against it and now they lived in solitude.

The children were growing into fine young children though Eren was still quite energetic and an eating machine. Bertl swore Annie had never eaten as much as her little brother and so, because of this, their garden was fuller with vegetables rolling over the borders and fruit trees overlaying their front yard, which Eren was often found in and Bertl was always fishing him out since he forgot how to climb down. And the boy loved his meat and so Reiner was always heading out to catch deer or geese, deer being Eren's favorite meet.

On one such day Bertl had sat himself on the porch, having just kissed his mate goodbye to go hunting. He normally did this to ease himself and watch the children, but there was an abandoned windmill near their house where they would play together and they were usually out of Bertl's sight but he could hear them perfectly fine with his advanced hearing, so he didn't have to worry about them playing out of his sight.

Relaxed, Bertl ended up falling asleep.

The day was perfect; a warm breeze had rolled over te meadow and passed by their house, tickling Bertl's tan skin and easing him into a comfortable slumber. He would stay like that until the sunset if his sleep wasn't interrupted.

And it was.

Bertl was startled awake by the cry of his children. He looked around in panic and noticed they were out of his sight. So, he turned toward the windmill and noticed other voices coming from that direction. Bertl's immediate thoughts went to the elders, but they had slain them all, leaving no witnesses to their deed. Then his mind went to other shifters and wondered if they had come to take Eren out of his life, but Bertl didn't think the elders had informed anyone else before their visit to prove Eren's position.

As Bertl made his way toward the windmill, the setting sun on his back, his thoughts plagued him with paranoia as to who it was attacking his children. But it didn't matter. They would be dead soon whoever they were.

Stopping dead in his tracks, Bertl's eyes winded before they narrowed dangerously. Humans. Filthy low-bred de-evolved humans.

He had never seen so many this far outside their gated community. By the looks of them he realized they were not affiliated with any branch of military that Bertl had seen sometimes leave the walls.

He and Reiner's kind had worked so hard to keep those cattle inside so their race could grow in secret but Bertl could hear these men. They knew about them. He didn't know how but they wouldn't live long to spread the truth of their existence further.

"We call these 'Titan children'," the lead man said with a wicked grin as he held Eren with the boy's arms pulled high behind his back to keep him from moving too much.

"Titan children?" Another questioned, this one was holding onto Annie who looked fatigued for some odd reason and it was then Bertl noticed some sort of drug had been administered to her judging by the syringe in another human's hand. It looked like they were trying to give it to Eren but the boy was struggling so much that he was making it hard to inject him. So a hard slap to his face was given. Bertl let out a growl as his vision slowly begun coloring red.

"Easy, do you want it to transform?" The leader asked, shoving the man away and causing him to drop the needle which he later scrambled for.

"We call them 'Titan children' because they transform into Titans," he explained. "Mostly through self-mutilation. I've seen adults but when I saw the kids they produced I figured they'd rake in big bucks if we ever managed to catch one."

"Yeah, the higher-ups will pay heavy coins to own one as a pet," another man said, there were six in total.

"And that is why I led you men on this expedition," the leader said. "We hit the jackpot with these two."

"Yeah, but if these are just children, where are their parents?" one asked.

"Believe it or not, sometimes they abandon them," the leader said and it was then Bertl grew worried. How did this humans know about that? Was someone observing them in secret?

"This young?" another asked.

"Seems so," their leader replied.

"What were to happen if we ran into a parent?" the most nervous of the humans asked.

"You'd all be dead."

The men startled and turned to see Bertl in the doorway of the mill. His tall frame and menacing eyes were proof enough that he was the children's parent.

Bertl was surprised by how fast the humans reacted, as if they had rehearsed running into his kind. One man took up a sword so fast and swung it at him that Bertl only had time to raise his arm in defense. The limb fell to his feet in equal time and as he looked at the man who chopped it off he could see that the man was overconfident now, thinking he had the upper hand just because he happened to chop off a shifter's arm. Bertl pitied the fool for a moment before he commanded his arm to regenerate instantly and his newly hand reached forward and crushed the empty skull of the man.

The horror in the others' faces Bertl soaked in. He briefly thought about shifting but he would risk harming his children underfoot and so he took it all, the bullets, the knives to the chest, everything as he took down the humans one by one.

He supposed he should make sure they were all dead before continuing to the next victim because one such surviving victim managed to find the fumbled syringe and stab it into his calf. Bertl turned and made to stomp the insolent being's face in but the serum was instantaneous.

"It's working!" the man cried out before the leader, the only other remaining human, gasped. He put down the children and came up to Bertl and laid his fist against his jaw. Bertl stood his ground until the human kicked him in the gut. The moment Bertl's form hit the ground the human began kicking his face. The heel of his boot met Bertl's nose and when it struck his jaw broke as well.

"Fucking! Titan! Fuck!" the leader shouted in rage and continued to kick to his heart's content.

_Why can't I transform?_ Bertl questioned. All the injuries he was receiving wasn't even healing and so that serum coursing through him frightened him.

"They can't transform or heal when they're fatigued," the leader said matter-of-factly. He then turned toward Annie who had tears in her eyes as she watched her mother's beating and laid there helpless like her mother. He picked the girl up with one arm and then made his way to grab Eren who was beside his mother, trembling and crying.

_Eren_, Bertl inwardly cried as he felt his little one cling to him and cry for protection of his mother. But Bertl could do nothing as Eren was yanked away from him. Eren cried out and reached for him.

"Eren!" Bertl managed to cry out through numb lips. He tried to lift his arm and reach out to his children but he found that bone to be broken as well. "Annie!"

"Hey, what about me?" the wounded man cried out as the leader made to leave with only the two children.

"You're just dead weight," the man said and then their leader was gone.

"Don't leave me!" the human cried out but his leader was gone already having taken the children and run off. "There are Titans around here!"

Oh yes. There were.

* * *

Reiner managed to catch two bucks and five geese. That should be enough to settle his little boy's stomach for a couple of days. After all, catching geese was hard in his Titan form.

Upon returning to the house they made home the sun had just set and the darkness crept in. It didn't matter though, Reiner, like the other shifters, had enhanced sight and could see perfectly in the dark just as he could the day.

Before hitting the path to the house, Reiner stopped and dropped the game. His eyes widened at the sight of a group of Titans positioned at the old windmill next to their home. They looked to be eating something.

But Titans only ate one thing.

"Bertl!" Reiner cried out as he ran up to the mill and intimidated the Titans to back themselves away. Leaning down Reiner reached with his Titan hand and took up his battered mate. He was in shock at Bertl's condition. He had never seen him so weak and wounded. What was wrong?

So, Reiner detached himself from his Titan and took Bertl into his arms as his form evaporated away.

"Bertl! What happened, where are the children?" Reiner asked.

Bertl opened his swollen eyes and made to speak. His broken jaw had healed in the time he laid there but nothing else had.

"Humans," he cried out with tears in his eyes. "They did this to me, Reiner. They stuck me with something and took them right from my arms."

Reiner's heart clenched at the sight of his mate, especially that of his tears.

"I'll kill them!" Bertl cried out, steam coming off his body. "Every fucking one of them!"

Before Bertl had the chance to transform, Reiner punched him in the gut. Bertl's eyes widened as he looked up at his mate.

"Rei . . . ner?" Bertl reached up and touched his mate's square jaw before his eyes rolled back and he slumped in Reiner's arms.

"I'm sorry, Bertl, but you can't transform now," Reiner said as he contained his rage against humanity bubbling up and placed it somewhere inside him to use later . . . when he found the scum that did this to his family. "Save it for later when we feast on their entire race!"

* * *

Annie hated humans for doing this to her; for taking her away from her parents, and especially for separating her from her brother. But she couldn't seem to quite reach them from the cage they locked her inside. Even her Titan arms were too short to tear those faces off those awe-struck onlookers.

"Isn't it monstrous but beautiful all at once? This, ladies and gentlemen, is no ordinary Titan, no, no such beast would grace this auditorium. No, this is a fabled Shifter, a Titan who possesses the ability to transform into a human at will!"

Annie grew more sick with the "ooh's" and the "aahh's" of the crowd.

"This specimen happens to be but one of the two 'children' captured," the host announced as he stepped aside and Eren was carted out on a table, strapped down from head to toe.

"Why isn't that one transformed?" someone called out in the crowd.

The announcer looked slightly annoyed at that reality but returned with—

"That is because he because he has not matured yet, like his sister here."

"Could be fake!" someone called out.

"Could be a human!"

"I'm not buying it!"

"Now, now, spectators, both children were taken from the same location from a trusted trader who said their father had been crying out to them," the announcer defended the two's relation through parental show of emotion.

"Could be lies!"

The crowd was unconvinced by Eren and Annie felt a small relief in hoping her brother would be set free, but that was not the case. Instead of being bought for the desired price Eren was bought for the same amount as a house slave. Quite low actually because of the sketchiness of his heritage. Most thought him to be just an average human boy stolen from a remote village.

"Eren!" Annie cried out as she pulled herself out of her Titan form, reaching out through the bars of her cages toward her little brother who was being carted away. "Eren!"

Her little brother looked at her, his eyes shown the same tears in his own eyes as his sister's. When he was rolled off the stage she never saw him again.

The men kept giving that weary drug to her and so she had no chance of saving her sibling. So she sat there in that cage and wept as the crowd bid their highest to own her and when an owner was named she didn't care and disconnected herself from the world.

Annie was shipped off to her new home about the same time Eren had been. Eren had been set free of his bonds and the long journey to his new home gave him time to shake off the drug given to him.

He sat in a fine carriage, his new ower was a noble who went to the slave market to find an exotic new servant. He had not known about the Titan children until they were announced on stage. When they were he rushed to see them as had everyone else. He hadn't had that kind of coin withdrawn so he was down on his luck to chance a buy at one. So, instead of seeing the young Titan titled boy as a scam from the traders he took the opportunity and bought him while the rest of the audience members were reluctant.

So there he sat, a smile on his face as if he had found a rare gem, but his head servant hadn't looked so pleased with the purchase or the merchandise.

"Can you imagine, Gino? I may have lucked out and actually managed to snab a Titan child. The others would be so jealous!" the noble declared. "Why, if I had known they would be up for auction I would have bought his sister as well!"

"Titans are not welcome in your noble home, milord," his head servant, Gino said with a stoic expression as he looked at Eren with unamused eyes. "Besides, anyone could see this to be a human child."

The noble let out a sigh, his excited mood shifting to that of disappointment.

"You're a mood-killer, Gino, but even so, he'll make a good house servant. Gotta train them young."

Gino nodded before he took up some cuffs and moved toward Eren. "If you don't mind me, sir, I believe it is best to bind the child before we reach your villa so he doesn't try running away."

"Right now? But we're still so far away."

Before another word was said, Eren's eyes glew a dangerous green shade, the noble and his servant saw it. They even heard that inhuman growl escape his throat as he lunged forward and bit into Gino's hand, tearing off a few fingers as he pulled away.

"It's a Titan!" the noble cried out in horror, turning and trying to climb out of the carriage. "A Titan! !"

* * *

Levi raised a brow at the pattern of the tracks. It looked like that of a normal carriage drawn by four horses. Four meant noble and noble meant money. Levi would have smiled at the prospect of mugging one of those snobby richies but no such gesture splayed across his lips. instead he pursed them in thought. The tracks led off road and Levi couldn't help but wonder why.

This was a secret highway known only to traders and buyers. It was a gold mine for thieves such as he, but it looks like he might have been a little late to rob this promising transportation. The horses hoof prints looked scrambled and so signaling the driver was terrified. They had been robbed.

Just as Levi made to turn his horse around his curiosity got the better of him and he decided to see if the tracks went far. They didn't to his surprise. With wide eyes Levi found the redwood carriage just a few yards away, hidden behind some bushes.

The horses were still there, Levi could hear them neighing. Strange indeed; horses were always a good steal or sell. So, he hopped off his stallion and made his way around the vehicle. He clung tighter to his club just in case anyone was still around.

He stopped, the awful sound of gurgling caught his hearing and when he looked at the other side of the carriage he noticed bodies, five of them. One was in the carriage, one half dragged on the carriage door and the rest were on the ground. The gurgling one had . . .

Levi started and jumped back a few feet, raising his weapon as he examined the culprit of this gruesome scene. His mind automatically went to a Titan as the one who had done this. He had seen Titans and he didn't plan on messing with the disgusting creatures so long as they didn't mess with him. But, there was a problem, this "Titan" was too small.

When Levi realized it was a child he gapped in horror. The little child, a boy, had been currently ripping the last survivor's throat out with his bare teeth. The skin was hanging from his canines and his face was painted red with blood. His green eyes stood out in stark contrast with the color as he turned toward Levi as if he were his next victim.

"That's not a child, that's a monster!" Levi said in sheer horror at beholding the _thing_. He wasn't a kid-killer but Levi doubted that thing was ever human so killing it would probably prove no hassle for the young man.

The moment their eyes met Levi watched a sudden change. The animalistic behavior ceased, The boy's jaw slacked and the skin in his mouth slide to the ground with a sickening 'shlurp'. The boy's eyes now died down to more of a teal-like color than that glowing unearthly emerald.

Levi didn't know what happened but he stayed wary of the child.

"What are you?" Levi demanded to know, inching closer carefully, his weapon still raised and ready for use.

"Eren." It was a quiet whisper and Levi barely caught it. "Ah?" So, the boy spoke again, this time reaching out to touch him. "Eren," the little child said but Levi dodged the touch and stayed his distance.

"Eren, huh? Well, Eren, what did you do to these people?" Levi inquired sternly.

Eren looked at the bodies around him and then reached down, sticking his fingers into the dead man's open throat. "No!" Levi cried out and took ahold of the boy's wrist, jerking him away. "What the hell are you doing? Why did you kill them? Are you a Titan?" Because if he was, Levi would not hesitate to kill him as a threat to humanity. He may be a thug but he was not one to let his race come a complete extinction.

The boy looked confused but he seemed quite docile compared to his previous demonic state Levi had witnessed not but a few moments ago.

"I can't say they may have had it coming," Levi said, looking down at the dead noble and his men. "God knows what they would have done to you, but why . . . why would you . . . _devour_ them?"

Of course the boy never answered and Levi knew he never would. So, he let go of the child and backed away. Leaning down he felt for the noble's purse and smiled at his luck when he found it. He tossed it into the air once and caught it. At least he wouldn't return empty-handed.

Now, what to do with the demon child?

Out of the corner of his eye, Levi caught sight of the youngling coming closer toward him and so he held out his club and butted the boy's forehead.

"Not a step closer, demon," Levi commanded and the boy strangely listened.

He looked like an average four or five-year-old and for some odd reason Levi found himself caring for this "Eren's" well-being. It was strange, how a monster could be so well dressed in human skin and emotion that he made you think he was human all along. Maybe that was it. Maybe that was how he drew his victims in.

"Just disappear," Levi muttered and turned to leave. Why couldn't he kill it? Levi didn't know what his problem was, but he knew if the child attacked him like those men then he'd put him in the ground.

But he didn't and as Levi turned he was surprised to see the child standing in the same place he had left him. He thought for sure the boy would attack him while his back was turned. He was looking for that excuse to down the child but the monster-boy didn't do anything. In fact, as Levi looked back at him, the child seated himself as if to wait.

"Is he waiting on me?" Levi questioned, his curiosity peaking at this mysterious child. If that were the case; if the child was truly waiting on him then the little monster had another thing coming to him. Levi scoffed and rolled his eyes. "You'll be waiting here a long time, kid. Don't hold your breath."

He didn't know why he left without killing the child. Dark repercussions were sure to come to pass if the threat wasn't taken care of, but Levi found himself not dwelling on suck dark thoughts. His mind only dwelt on his feelings, not threatened or disturbed by the child's presence, Levi didn't feel any danger to his own life.

Perhaps that was what caused Levi to spare his life. Maybe it was when Levi began referring to it as a "he". He really didn't know and normally he wouldn't care and would just leave the child to die by himself out in the wilderness but this time was different.

"Why are we going back?" Isabel, one of Levi's friends asked as they drove their horses back toward where Levi found the dead noble and his carriage.

"Yeah, I'm sure it's already been scavenged, and I don't want to be here when the Corps show up," Farlon, Levi's other friend said.

"Shut up," Levi commanded as they rode up to the scene. Levi was the first one off his steed. He rushed up to the scene and looked around. Everything was untouched. The dead bodies collected a few more flies but other than that the overlay of he area hadn't changed in the hours it took him to return.

"Are you looking for something, Levi?" Isabel asked, noticing first her friend's searching eyes.

"If it was something you should have taken they why didn't you take it with you in the first place?" Farlon asked.

He was gone; the boy Eren.

Levi didn't know why he felt such a disappointment, he left to never return. Did he really come back just to see if the kid listened to him or did he come back to really take something he felt he should have?

"Whatever it was, it's gone. Others probably found it after you left, Levi," Farlon suggested. "What was it anyway? I've never seen you so overtaken by something."

Levi answered no questions. He continued searching until he realized that the boy had vanished and Levi couldn't figure if it was unease settling in the pit of his stomach for the possibility of letting a monster run loose or just disappointment. If the latter then why? That's what Levi couldn't figure and it was eating away at him.

"Ugh," Isabel gasped, covering her nose. "What kind of creature did this? They look half-eaten."

"Maybe it was a Titan," Farlon joked with an elbow to Isabel's side.

"Don't say that!" Isabel complained. "If one got inside the walls I don't know what I'd do!"

"This carnage does look like the result of a Titan, doesn't it?"

Levi and his friends turned quickly, finding themselves suddenly surrounded. It was the Survey Corps.

"Damn it!" Farlon cursed, pulling out his swords. "How did we not hear them? !"

The leader of the squad, the blond, looked at them. A knowing smile planted on his face.

"Did you three happen to see what did this?" He asked, his horse walking closer to the three, unafraid.

They said nothing but the Captain turned toward Levi and his hard blue eyes read him.

"You saw something, didn't you?" He asked. Levi remained quiet, his hand on his club in case. With a chuckle the Captain nodded. "I see," he said. "Well, thugs or not, withholding information that may endanger the entire race of humans is punishable upon a court's decision. I'm afraid you're all coming with us."

Levi smirked, raising his club best well-known to bash human skulls in. "Oh yeah?" He asked. "You'll have to capture us first."

Oddly enough the Captain smirked, as if he wanted them to resist.

"Go ahead," he said, Levi catching that exited sparkle in his eyes that brought up inward questions for this sudden turn of events. "Show me what you can do, Levi."

* * *

Dr. Jaeger pulled the slumbering boy out of the carriage and held him close. He was much more manageable this way.

Walking up the steps that lead to his home, Grisha reflected on the child's condition when he first saw him. The road was dangerous but the doctor's work itself was dangerous and hidden so he had no other options but to travel the narrow path. He was just returning from a venture outside when he spotted the upturned dirt in the road that led him toward the manless carriage and then the boy.

The child had been sitting down in the midst of the gore and Grisha had been on plenty surveys outside to know what he was dealing with . . . a Titan child. The bodies were half-eaten and the blood dripping down the child's face was evidence for his conviction.

Grisha had seen the dangers of this rare race. He had seen just how many and how evolved they were. Studying them from afar would do no good for the research he was striving to complete so the opportunity to capture it took hold of him and even as the child bit and broke the bone in his arm, Grisha used the experimental drug knowing the dangers and injected it into the boy.

He then cleaned him up and decided it was safe enough to bring home. He thought about keeping it in the basement, but decided against it.

"Carla," Dr. Grisha called out to his wife as he opened the front door.

There was his lovely bride, cooking supper. She turned and the moment her eyes fell on the child in his arms she ran. She ran and took the boy up into her arms and held the brunette close against her bosom.

"Oh, Grisha!" Carla gasped, rocking the child in her arms before taking a seat and examining the boy thoroughly. "Where did you find him? Where are his parents?"

"Dead, probably," Grisha said. "I found him in the company of a noble. Looks like he was bought as a slave."

"Oh, how wretched," Carla spat, combing her fingers through the lad's hair in a motherly fashion. She had always wanted children of her own. "That king knows this goes on but he does nothing! Now it is the children who suffer!"

"There was a carriage accident and he's the only one who survived," Grisha continued his tale. "I made to the orphanage, but—"

"No! Don't take him there," Carla pleaded, looking at her husband. "I've heard awful stories of what happens to those poor parentless children. Please, let me raise him!"

Grisha knew his wife would want to keep the child. It had been his plan to coax his wife in secret to keep the boy, playing with her maternal instincts. This way he could examine him and have his wife properly nourish him. He was certain he'd prove of no harm being that the drug administered affected the brain.

In time the doctor could see what the drug had done. The child was docile now, unspeaking and hardly moving. Carla had been worried but Grisha ever curious. It was as if the child completely forgot who he was save for one thing.

"How about Paul?" Carla asked with a giggle as she looked at the child who smiled at her shyly. "No?" She said in a sing-song voice as if she were playing. "How about . . . Ludwig?" Once again Eren giggled, shaking his head. "No? Then . . . Alexander!"

"Eren," the boy giggled as Carla tickled him. She stopped once she heard him speak and looked toward her husband who looked equally surprised.

"Eren?" she asked, a large smile on her face at hearing the boy say his first word in the year since he's lived with them. "Say that again?"

"Eren," he said once more, wrapping his arms around the woman and holding her close.

"Grisha! Did you hear? He said his first word, his first word!" Carla cheered with a bright smile, hugging the boy proudly.

Grisha was surprised the boy remembered his own name. He wondered if that was all he remembered. Still, he couldn't help but smile at his wife's display of affection toward the child. Did she not know she was coddling a Titan child, a nonhuman? Well, of course not, but nonetheless it made her happy.

Carla had always wanted children. Sadly, her body didn't have the strength to carry one. Their first child, a boy, was born without life, but his sister didn't even make it that far. After four months of carrying their second child Carla's body gave up and their daughter was lost, joining her brother in the afterlife.

They tried for another child but no child came and so Carla grew sad and bitter through the years, especially when she saw her friends with a few children of their own and she . . . had nothing. After Eren was brought into her life she felt like she was needed, like she was wanted. The child, though unknowingly inhuman, called her his mother and she her son. He even made Grisha quite happy himself though the man still conducted his experiments and research in secret from his family.

He observed the boy and noticed his lack of friends. He couldn't understand why but felt that his bonding was much different than humans. Once such thing he did know was that the boy shifted personas; when around Carla he acted like a regular human boy, when around other children his age he stayed quiet, but when he was around ill-intended people he was cold, but calm before down-right murderous.

Grisha had witnessed it when Eren killed a few slave-traders without even a second thought, he even somehow coaxed the victim of the attack to kill as well. Grisha had been disturbed, as well as his wife. It was after this that Eren managed to make a friend on his own, though Grisha wondered if the boy was friends with his adopted son because of friendship or the need to survive. Eren got along as well with his adopted sister, Mikasa . . . she seemed quite attached.

But one fascination always enchanted the boy . . . that of Titans. So, Grisha wondered if the boy remembered something of his kind or that he was just drawn to them out of curiosity. Grisha believed it to be the first.

When Eren decided he wanted to join the Survey Corps when he matured, Grisha knew something Titan inside was pulling Eren's mind toward the outside. The boy seemed quite oblivious but Grisha knew he was slowly remembering, perhaps not mentally because of the damage the serum did but his body was quite the memory keeper. So Grisha decided it was time.

"When I get back, I'll take you to the basement and show you the truth."

Grisha wondered what Eren would do when he saw his own kind. He wondered what he'd think, what he'd say, what he'd feel. If a part of him really did remember his inhumanity then Grisha's research would progress further than he could imagine.

But something happened when Grisha realized he would never give be given the opportunity to finish his important research.

A Colossal Titan appeared and broke down the wall.


End file.
